This weekend I decided to try some concert photography, at a friends concert. I had no idea what I was doing, well I had an idea, but lets just say I had no practical experience. All I had was knowledge and understanding of photography principles, my camera, and my trusty 50mm 1.8 lens.   I want to share my findings and results with you in hopes that it might help or inspire you to do the same.
The Pre-Show Ritual
Just the same as my buddy the drummer has two beers and a Gatorade before a show, I realized that I need to have a ritual before shooting a concert as well.  I got there early, but I really didn’t do anything other than take a look at the stage. What I should have done was talk to the sound guys to get permission to be walking around by their booth. During the show, I realized I should have asked, but it was too late. They were busy.  I should have spent some time “pre-shooting†to get my settings right.  During the lighting check would have been perfect. I never realized how difficult exposure would be while the lights are all flashing, although I developed a good “rhythmic” sense of how the lights would change after a few songs. Anyway, the moral here is spend some time getting your stuff together, This should have been a given as it is for ANY shoot, but I was distracted by…. the bar…. and the pool table. DOH!
Gear and Settings
No doubt you already realize that light will be dim at any concert, save for that fleeting moment of bright stage lighting. So your going to need to shoot a fast lens (large aperture, low F-Stop number) and this can be a stopping point for some people. Your going to need at least (or at the highest) F2.8. This poses somewhat of a problem for depth of field and focusing. Now if you have a really high end pro camera such as a Nikon D3, you can shoot at a very high ISO allowing you to use a slower lens, like a 5.6, and then you will have and easier time getting things in focus. I happen to prefer shallower depth of field, and in cases of low light I have no choice considering my Nikon D80 really only performs well at a maximum of ISO1000.   I chose to shoot on Aperture Priority mode, which was a mistake. I should have shot Shutter Priority set at 1/60th.  The reason being, that I would have preferred to have shots underexposed rather than blurry.  Again, I didn’t really think about or test my settings before the shoot. DOH!
I also realized once I got home, that I had been shooting the whole things with matrix metering, rather than spot metering. STUPID! <slaps forehead>   No wonder I was having a hard time getting proper exposures. You definitely want to have SPOT metering, or at least center weighted, which most if not all SLR’s should have.
Just to recap on gear, I used my 50mm 1.8 but I was able to get right up on the stage. If you can’t do that, you may want to use something with a little more reach, like a 100mm or 200mm. If you are really rich, go get a 70-200mm 2.8 zoom. I also took my Manfrotto tripod so I could get some distant shots of the stage while dragging the shutter to show motion in the crowd and performers.
Other Considerations
Make sure that you don’t annoy the band. These guys were my friends so I had that covered, but its always good to get permission. To be clear, the concert I shot was a small local show, so no press pass was required, which at a mainstream concert would be standard procedure. Make sure you don’t tick off the audience, you don’t want to get in their way (especially at a heavy metal show).
Results
Here are some of the better shots I got that night. I hope this article has given you some basic advice on how to approach a concert shoot and maybe you will benefit from my mistakes. Thanks for reading.
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